-
I visited the ABNA (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards) message boards today, just to see how things are going. The next cut will come soon (April 15). I noticed a very disturbing trend. “No” votes.

I have posted before about the turbulent nature of some of the threads there. Every forum has its trolls and sock puppets. I compared it before to so many game forums I have been on. I generally find the trolls humorous, and the sock puppets sad, but the recent trend at ABNA struck a nerve.

If you're not familiar with the terms – trolls are posters who lay in wait to post nasty comments. Some can be humorous, some are just mean spirited. Sock puppets are users with multiple accounts who act as if they are non-related, unique users. Trolls often use sock puppet accounts in coordinated attacks on other users.

I've seen this sort of thing before on game forums. They are usually, no offense to younger people intended, teenagers or even pre-teens. It is common on game forums and everyone has learned to spot the sock puppets pretty successfully, and ignore them.

Some forums and message boards are trying a new strategy to curb rampant trolling. They allow users to vote on whether posts are helpful or not. The trollish posts get voted down by more mature users and after so many “no” votes the post disappears. Troll defeated. At least in theory.

Trolls can use sock puppet accounts to effectively censor those the puppeteer doesn't like. Click enough “no” votes and the victim's posts start fading off the board. Trolls go after a user and multiple no vote everything the user posts, censoring them.

That's what I saw on the ABNA boards today. Some users are having everything they post censored by a cadre of sock puppeteers. These trolls are effectively trying to control the boards and push those they don't like off.

This isn't a game forum, with a bunch of competitive kids arguing about nerfs and game mechanics. This is a writing contest where thousands of very talented writers compete for a chance to be published. These “no” votes are not just happening on the message boards, but on reviews of the semi-finalist's excerpts.

I find it appalling that Amazon is allowing this to go on and potentially effect the contest. Some contestants are being targeted, as well as some people who are spending hours reading and reviewing. I went on the ABNA message board and saw post after post hidden from view with the tag “unhelpful” attached.

Thankfully Amazon doesn't delete posts, only hide them. You can choose to show the “unhelpful” posts, or the “unhelpful” reviews, which I did. Amazon, however, has done nothing to stop this obvious misuse of the voting system.

Using the “no” button to harass fellow customers, and effectively censor them, is a blatant breach of the user agreement. That censorship is what struck me the hardest. As I said, this is a writing contest. Thousands of writers, together in one place. This should be a celebration of free speech.

To me this is very disappointing and disheartening. I would expect, I did expect, a much higher level of maturity among my fellow writers. I'm not naive, I know this is the work of a handful of trolls controlling their precious sock puppets, but it reflects badly on writers in general. The “one bad apple” sort of thing.

In the beginning we all bemoaned the lack of press coverage for this contest. Now, perhaps, we should be thankful for that. These few narrow minded, self absorbed, trolls, with their childish vendettas, are a black eye to serious writers everywhere.

I will continue to cover the contest to the end, as I have said, but the drama on the ABNA boards has left a bad taste in my mouth. In a way I am glad my entry didn't make the last cut. I can simple stand back and shake my head at this point.